Jonathan Swift

"JOHN DENNIS, THE SHELTERING POET'S INVITATION TO RICHARD STEELE, THE SECLUDED PARTY-WRITER AND MEMBER, TO COME AND LIVE WITH HIM, IN THE MINT 17"

"All-ruling tyrant of the earth,     To vilest slaves I owe my birth,     How is the greatest monarch blest,     When in my gaudy livery drest!"

"ON SIGNORA DOMITILLA     Our schoolmaster may roar i' th' fit,         Of classic beauty, haec et illa;     Not all his birch inspires such wit"

"Femineo generi tribuantur.     The Muses, whom the richest silks array,     Refuse to fling their shining gowns away;     The pencil clothes t"

"My pedagogue dear, I read with surprise     Your long sorry rhymes, which you made on my eyes;     As the Dean of St. Patrick's says, earth, sea"

"WRITTEN ON THE DAY OF HER BIRTH, MARCH 13, 1723-4, BUT NOT ON THE SUBJECT, WHEN I WAS SICK IN BED     Tormented with incessant pains,     Can"

"In all I wish, how happy should I be,     Thou grand Deluder, were it not for thee!     So weak thou art, that fools thy power despise;     And"

"His Grace! impossible! what, dead!     Of old age too, and in his bed!     And could that mighty warrior fall,     And so inglorious, after all"

"When first Diana leaves her bed,         Vapours and steams her looks disgrace,     A frowzy dirty-colour'd red         Sits on her cloudy wrin"

"WRITTEN IN OCTOBER, 1714     Soon after the author's coming to live in Ireland, upon the Queen's death.[1] - Swift.     'Tis true - then why"

"In youth exalted high in air,     Or bathing in the waters fair,     Nature to form me took delight,     And clad my body all in white.     My"

"I'm wealthy and poor,     I'm empty and full,     I'm humble and proud,     I'm witty and dull.     I'm foul and yet fair:     I'm old, and y"

"The bold encroachers on the deep         Gain by degrees huge tracts of land,     Till Neptune, with one general sweep,         Turns all again"

""IN SYLLABAM LONGAM IN VOCE VERTIGINOSUS A. D. SWIFT CORREPTAM"     Musarum antistes, Phoebi numerosus alumnus,         Vix omnes numeros Vert"

"Robin to beggars with a curse,     Throws the last shilling in his purse;     And when the coachman comes for pay,     The rogue must call anot"

"The rod was but a harmless wand,         While Moses held it in his hand;     But, soon as e'er he laid it down,     Twas a devouring serpent g"

"Louis the living learned fed,     And raised the scientific head;     Our frugal queen, to save her meat,     Exalts the heads that cannot eat."

"Daphne knows, with equal ease,     How to vex, and how to please;     But the folly of her sex     Makes her sole delight to vex.     Never wo"

"I'm up and down, and round about,     Yet all the world can't find me out;     Though hundreds have employ'd their leisure,     They never yet"

"Virtue conceal'd within our breast     Is inactivity at best:     But never shall the Muse endure     To let your virtues lie obscure;     Or"

"Among the numbers who employ     Their tongues and pens to give you joy,     Dear Harley! generous youth, admit     What friendship dictates mo"

"AETATIS SUAE fifty-two,     A reverend Dean began to woo[2]     A handsome, young, imperious girl,     Nearly related to an earl.[3]     Her p"

"If it be true, celestial powers,     That you have form'd me fair,     And yet, in all my vainest hours,     My mind has been my care:     The"

"ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM, WHO, ON ONE OCCASION, LEFT HIS CHURCH DURING SERVICE IN ORDER TO WAIT ON THE DUKE OF DORSET[2]     Lord Pam[3] in the church"

"Pallas, a goddess chaste and wise     Descending lately from the skies,     To Neptune went, and begg'd in form     He'd give his orders for a"

"Since your poetic prancer is turn'd into Cancer,     I'll tell you at once, sir, I'm now not your man, sir;     For pray, sir, what pleasure in"

"The sage, who said he should be proud         Of windows in his breast,[1]     Because he ne'er a thought allow'd         That might not be con"

"Did ever problem thus perplex,     Or more employ the female sex?     So sweet a passion who would think,     Jove ever form'd to make a stink?"

"I     LEST it may more quarrels breed,     I will never hear you read.     II     By disputing, I will never,     To convince you once endea"

"Here, five feet deep, lies on his back     A cobbler, starmonger, and quack;     Who to the stars, in pure good will,     Does to his best look"

"Dear Sir, I think, 'tis doubly hard,     Your ears and doors should both be barr'd.     Can anything be more unkind?     Must I not see, 'cause"

"CHARIOT     My pretty dear Cuz, tho' I've roved the town o'er,     To dispatch in an hour some visits a score;     Though, since first on the"

"When Cupid did his grandsire Jove entreat     To form some Beauty by a new receipt, Jove sent, and found, far in a country scene,     Truth, inn"

"The greatest monarch may be stabb'd by night     And fortune help the murderer in his flight;     The vilest ruffian may commit a rape,     Yet"

"High Church is undone,     As sure as a gun,         For old Peter Patch is departed;     And Eyres and Delaune,     And the rest of that spaw"

"I am jet black, as you may see,         The son of pitch and gloomy night:     Yet all that know me will agree,         I'm dead except I live"

"WRITTEN AT THE CASTLE OF DUBLIN, 1699     My Lord,[1] to find out who must deal,         Delivers cards about,     But the first knave does s"

"James Brydges[1]and the Dean had long been friends;     James is beduked; of course their friendship ends:     But sure the Dean deserves a shar"

"BY THE DEAN. SPOKEN BY MR. GRIFFITH     Who dares affirm this is no pious age,     When charity begins to tread the stage?     When act"

"We both are mortal; but thou, frailer creature,         May'st die, like me, by chance, but not by nature."

"An inundation, says the fable,     Overflow'd a farmer's barn and stable;     Whole ricks of hay and stacks of corn     Were down the sudden cu"

"While the king and his ministers keep such a pother,     And all about changing one whore for another,     Think I to myself, what need all this"

"[1]     Scene, the Royal Exchange     CORYDON     Now the keen rigour of the winter's o'er,     No hail descends, and frost can pinch no more,"

"APPLES     Come buy my fine wares,     Plums, apples, and pears.     A hundred a penny,     In conscience too many:     Come, will you have"

"1711-12     This day (the year I dare not tell)         Apollo play'd the midwife's part;     Into the world Corinna fell,         And"

"PART OF A SUMMER SPENT AT GAULSTOWN HOUSE,     THE SEAT OF GEORGE ROCHFORT, ESQ.     DRAMATIS PERSONAE     The Baron, Lord Chief Baron Roch"

"BY DR. DELANY     I reach all things near me, and far off to boot,     Without stretching a finger, or stirring a foot;     I take them all in"

"Who can believe with common sense,     A bacon slice gives God offence;     Or, how a herring has a charm     Almighty vengeance to disarm?"

"'Tis strange what different thoughts inspire     In men, Possession and Desire!     Think what they wish so great a blessing;     So disapp"

"TO AN AGREEABLE YOUNG LADY, BUT EXTREMELY LEAN. 1730     Lord Orrery gives us the following curious anecdote respecting this poem:     "I have"

"Deluded mortals, whom the great     Choose for companions tte--tte;     Who at their dinners, en famille,     Get leave to sit whene'er you"

"1720-21     To the tune of "Packington's Pound."     Brocades, and damasks, and tabbies, and gauzes,     Are, by Robert Ballantine, latel"